Youth in Rural South Africa Trained as HIV Peer Educators

The Stars of Tomorrow is an HIV peer education program made possible through VAST funds. The three-day training took place January 31 through February 2, 2011. Twenty-one unemployed, out of school youth in their 20s were trained to be HIV peer educators in the community. My organization provides home-based care to people who are sick with HIV/AIDS. The staff, along with myself, administered the training, which taught youth about HIV transmission, prevention, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and STIs, and focused on their dreams and goals for the future. The youth will spend the next three months educating their community about HIV, where the the HIV rate is 36%.